February 9, 2010

Vancouver Bound

I’ve had some really good days amongst the last few, one of which revolved around a major milestone, but I simply haven’t had the time to capture and share the thoughts. So now, at 30,000 feet on my way to Vancouver, I finally have some peace and an opportunity to catch up.

Friday was a very big day. I did my longest continuous run in nearly six months and it was issue free. I ran 40 minutes and covered 4.34 miles. As I’ve thought about my return to running over the past few months, I worried I’d be forced to run an 11 minute mile indefinitely, a slower pace than I’m used to. Not that there is anything wrong with that, but I had recently done a 10K in just over 45 minutes and was consistently running faster and faster. I was feeling as though something had clicked and I didn’t want to lose it. While my inaugural continuous run wasn’t a blistering pace by any stretch, it was enough to plaster a smile on my face for days.

Saturday ended up being a forced rest day in order to pack for Vancouver. Preparing for a 15-day business trip is incredibly tricky, plus my personal life and home were in total disarray due to how busy I’ve been. I was on my feet all day and felt I’d accomplished nothing in the end. So frustrating. So when the opportunity arose to do something normal on Sunday I jumped on it. My boyfriend wanted to get out of the city for some hiking and I needed to clear my head. We stayed a little closer to home this time to minimize the car time and spent the afternoon near Bear Mountain. The last time I was up there I was on my bike and had 4cc’s of packed platelets freshly injected into my heel. I’ve come a long way.

It was a cold but beautiful day with so much sunshine I could barely see. I wanted to close my eyes and capture the feeling to carry with me over the next two weeks. I’m excited about the journey I’m embarking on, but sad about everything I’m temporarily leaving behind. My training is totally derailed and I feel about as far away from Ironman as I could be. Lake Placid is just around the corner, I need to start being more serious. What better place to jumpstart my fitness than the Winter Oympic Games? I have an entire suitcase filled with training gear and my fingers are crossed.

Here is a sneaky photo I captured while waiting to board the flight. A majority of the passengers were media or others traveling to the Games for work, including the Today Show's Matt Lauer.